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Mother wants answers in daughter's Lowell police-custody death

By Christopher Scott, cscott@lowellsun.com

Updated:
07/02/2013 07:43:09 AM EDT

LOWELL -- Alice Swiridowsky-Muckle makes no attempt to sugarcoat why her daughter was in Lowell Police Department custody in the overnight hours of Jan. 13, where the 31-year-old woman's life would end.

"I know she wasn't an upstanding member of the Lowell community," Swiridowsky-Muckle said of her daughter, Alyssa Brame, in reference to her arrest several hours earlier on a single count of sexual conduct for pay. "But she was a human being and deserved to be treated with dignity."

Swiridowsky-Muckle recently contacted The Sun from her home in Terryville, Conn., after learning from Adrienne Lynch, a Middlesex County assistant district attorney, that toxicology tests done on her daughter's body determined she died of acute alcohol poisoning.

She said if someone from the Police Department had called for medical attention for Brame during the booking process, she believes her daughter would still be alive today.

"I just want someone to be held accountable for my daughter's death," Swiridowsky-Muckle said. "If the shoe was on the other foot, and this was a daughter of one of the police officers, I'm sure it would be handled differently."

Soon after Brame's death, Assistant District Attorney Marybeth Long, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Marian Ryan, confirmed to The Sun that the death is under investigation, although no foul play was suspected.

Interim Police Superintendent Deborah Friedl said that appears to be the case and she's waiting for Ryan to sign off on Lynch's report.

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When that happens, Friedl said she will convene a three-member Board of Inquiry into what happened to Brame late Jan. 12 and into the early hours of Jan. 13.

A review board, made up of three superior officers, is usually only used in serious cases.

Brame, who gave her address as 94 Rock St., Lowell, which is a homeless shelter, was booked at the police station on Saturday at 11:07 p.m., according to arrest logs.

Brame was transported to Lowell General Hospital-Saints Campus and arrived there at 12:57 a.m., Sunday. Eleven minutes later she was pronounced dead at 1:08 a.m., Swiridowsky-Muckle said. She said a doctor called her Sunday morning about 2 a.m. and informed her of her daughter's death.

Police Department protocol stipulates that the booking procedure be overseen by the shift's commanding officer. It's up to the CO to determine whether a prisoner requires medical attention.

Lt. Thomas Siopes was the commanding officer who oversaw Brame's booking. At about midnight, however, the shift changed and command duties were assumed by Capt. Thomas Meehan.

Friedl declined to say whether she thought the Brame incident was handled appropriately by Siopes and Meehan.

"I really need to see the DA's report and we need to do our own investigation before I can comment on a question like that," said Friedl. "Obviously, the outcome isn't what we want to happen. Our investigation will show what happened so this doesn't happen again."

Generally, shift commanders call for medical personnel during the booking process, Friedl said. During the overnight hours of Jan. 12, medical personnel were dispatched to assist Brame, Friedl said. What precisely happened next will be determined in the review, Friedl said. Friedl added the review is a priority, but it will take at least a month.

Swiridowsky-Muckle was complimentary of Lynch from the DA's office. Swiridowski-Muckle said she is aware that her daughter's last minutes were captured on a cell-block surveillance camera, but that Lynch told her: "Alice, you don't want to see that."

Swiridowsky-Muckle said she has contacted Boston lawyer Howard Friedman to discuss whether to file a lawsuit against the city.

"My daughter should not have died of acute-alcohol poisoning," she said. "The officers did nothing.

"My goal here is to bring attention to what happened to my daughter so it doesn't happen again," she added. "I'm not in it for the money."

According to Swiridowsky-Muckle, her daughter was born in Connecticut, but grew up in Maine since the age of 3.

Brame had a drinking problem, according to her mother, and moved to Lowell during the last week of December in an attempt to get away from her problems in Maine.

"She wanted to get away from the bunch of people she was with. She wanted to start new, fresh. That was her plan," Swiridowsky-Muckle said. "My heart just sunk, because that's like taking a farm girl and putting her in New York City."

In another high-profile incident inside the Police Department's cell block about a month later, on Feb. 10, one of five suspects arrested during a brawl outside the SAC Club was found to be carrying a loaded 9 mm handgun in Lowell police headquarters while he was being booked. Kenneth Lavallee, then the Police Department's superintendent, instituted a policy requiring the shift commander to be present during the entire booking process. That order is still in effect, Friedl said.

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